Seven years is a lifetime. Of course she moved on.
I should let her go.
The smart play would be focusing on why I'm here, who called me back, and what game Alessandro is playing.
Family business. Power struggles.
That's the battlefield I'm equipped for.
But standing in this empty church, watching Katerina's silhouette disappear through the door, I know one undeniable truth. I never stopped loving her.
Not in Chicago. Not in exile.
Not in the arms of women whose names I forgot by morning.
And I'll be damned if I walk away from her twice.
4
KATERINA
The leather seat feels cold against my back as I stare out the window, watching the church fade into the distance.
Pyotr sits beside me, rigid and tense.
I can still feel Luca’s effect on me. For an instant, it was like I was twenty again, hopelessly in love and believing in happily ever after.
Thankfully, reality quickly swooped in. I can’t afford to get caught up in him again.
"You okay?" Pyotr's voice breaks through my thoughts.
"Fine."
"He had no right approaching you like that."
I turn to face my brother. "I don't need your protection from Luca Dante."
"Don't you?" His eyebrow arches. "You looked shaken."
Of course I'm shaken. How could I not be? Those gray eyes still cut straight through me. It would be easier if I felt nothing. If seven years had killed my love instead of burying it beneath hurt and anger.
"He's not back for me," I say, more to myself than Pyotr. "He's not even really back for his father."
"Then why is he here?"
I shake my head. "Someone summoned him. That's what he said."
The city blurs past my window. The day is gray. How fitting for today. What sort of summons could possibly lure Luca home? Why did he bother heeding it?
What would I have given, once, to see Luca walk through those doors again?
To hear him say my name like I was something precious?
Everything. I would have given everything.
But that was before Enzo.
Before I understood what real love meant.
